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Search Engine Marketing Review

posted by: Admin  /  12 April 2010

As we know, the business of the Internet is a constantly evolving arena where big advantages reward those who stay in touch with the latest trends.  In this blog post I take a brief look at the state of online marketing, the trends we’ve seen of late, and take a look at the results of a recent survey which give us an insight into what to expect in 2010.

The search engine marketing industry in North America alone was worth around $14.6B in 2009, 8% higher than 2008.  The worldwide recession made 2009 a particularly slow year for the first three quarters, but a significant upturn in quarter 4 has continued into 2010, leading market analysts to estimate 14% growth in 2010 at around $16.6B.

Companies continue to move money from IT and other marketing activities into search engine marketing, and social media now plays a significant supporting role in most online marketing strategies.  The results are pretty much as expected.

• Google dominates, with 97% of companies paying to advertise on Google AdWords.
• On average, companies expect to spend 43% more on SEO in 2010 than they did in 2009.
• Social media marketing budgets are still modest compared to search engine optimization and paid search.
• The number of companies who engage in search engine optimization (90%) has remained steady since 2007, while the proportion of companies carrying out paid search marketing (now 81%) has increased from 78% in 2009 and 70% in 2008.
• Three quarters of companies are using Facebook (74%) and Twitter (73%) to promote their brands or companies.

The statistics above are taken from a worldwide survey of nearly 1,500 agencies and marketers from over 65 countries, but what does all this tell us about likely trends for 2010?

Well quite a lot, but I think the most prominent points to come out of this survey are:

The number one challenge facing search marketers this year is being able to accurately measure their ROI (Return On Investment). 

Whilst this seems like a fairly obvious point to make, it’s worth noting that online marketing will continue to drive future budget decisions, making quality of statistical information a key factor in a businesses overall marketing strategy.  The survey saw:

• 42% of respondents citing return on investment as their biggest challenge for SEO,
• 43%  citing ROI as the biggest challenge for paid marketing,
• a massive 63% seeing this as the key issue with Social Media Marketing
  

Social Media Marketing will continue to compliment search engine optimisation and paid web advertising campaigns. 

An increase in investment in Social Media Marketing is envisaged in 2010.  Whilst this may seem pretty obvious, it wasn’t as recently as 18 months ago.  Twitter for example, has come from being a non-consideration to one of the most prominent social marketing platforms in that time, with 73% of companies and 80% of agencies using it for brand marketing.

Other findings include:

• The number of companies who engage in SEO remains the same as 2009 (90%)
• More than 50% of companies have noted an increase in keyword costs used in paid marketing
• Agencies have seen the print advertising sector as even more heavily hit, with 69% of respondents noticing a shift of budget from newspaper and magazine advertising, to online marketing.

If you’re looking for more from your Search Engine Marketing plan, give Fivesite a call on 01234 292200.

Search Engine Optimisation... Why is it so important?

posted by: Heather  /  13 July 2009

Our extensive experience as web developers, has taught us that having a dynamic and professional website design is only the first step toward an effective online presence. This is because the Internet is a vast and highly competitive medium and no matter how good your website is, if potential customers are unable to find you then it is completely useless.

How do I get potential customers to find my website?

If I told you that 91% of web users use search engines to navigate their way through the web wouldn't you agree that this would be an essential area to dominate?

More specifically, if I said that 8 out of 10 searches are done through Google, Yahoo and MSN can you imagine how beneficial it could be if you were among the top 10 results for searches in your field?

That is where Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) comes in. Here at Fivesite we are experts in implementing outstanding SEO programs that aim to get you to the top of all the major search engines with keywords and phrases that are relevant to your service. We don't want to move you from page 40 to the first 5 results pages on Google; we want you on the first page. Furthermore we want you at No.1 because we know how beneficial the No.1 slot is for generating new business and boosting sales.

The importance of being on Page 1

A recent survey by Jupiter Research (2008) cites that 68% of web searchers don't look beyond the first page of results when using online search engines. This is an increase of 42% since 2002. These stats not only show the importance of being on the first page of results (thus gaining maximum exposure to potential clients), but it also shows us the increasing importance search engine placement bears on the searcher.

This is because today's internet users are savvy and experienced, therefore they know that the companies at the top of the search results page are going to be the most relevant and the most trustworthy. They think:

High Search Rankings = Leader within their Field

Therefore they are more likely to click through to your website and read more about you, hopefully provoking them to make an enquiry or even buy something directly.

In the report below you can see where web searchers focus their attention when analysing search results. As you can see Google users barely even reach the bottom of the page when viewing results, nor do they pay much attention to the right hand side of the page where PPC adverts are placed. Although Yahoo and MSN users are a bit more sporadic in their viewing, it is still clear that the main focus of attention is the top left hand side of the page... this is where your organisation needs to be.

Beneficial whether you're big or small

The wonderful thing about SEO is that it allows even the smallest company to compete against large organisations. This is because achieving the top slot on Google, for example, costs nothing – search engines offer a free online service which aims to connect searchers with the most relevant websites possible. It's all down to hard work and skill rather than budget that will get you to the top.

Call us on FREEPHONE 0800 292 2014 for more information on how our superb SEO programs can improve your online presence.

Google, Yahoo, MSN... who's the real big daddy?

posted by: Alex  /  09 July 2008

There are three top search engines – Google, Google and Google.

Not quite true, but very nearly. In the UK 87% of searches are conducted via Google. Yahoo comes second and then you have the real also-rans.* And most of the also-rans piggy-back Google anyway.

Lesson number two:

If Google is king, then it’s the top three or four rankings within Google that scoop up all the business.

Think how you do searches yourself. Almost certainly via Google, and almost certainly you visit the top two or three sites displayed – depending on some key decision factors that we really do understand.

Back  to my point; imagine there are almost a billion people worldwide using the Internet everyday. How valuable to your brand and business do you think it would be if you were one of those first three choices? (Like our clients). You’ll need superlatives like ‘huge’, ‘substantial’, ‘enormous’.

Go to www.google.co.uk right now and type the words "Drainage", or maybe "Mexican Food" , "QS site support" or maybe something even more difficult "Flour for homebaking" and our clients' sites will appear in the top three results.

This is how and why companies you have never heard of last year have suddenly become global mega brands in a matter of months when traditionally it has taken decades to build global brands in this way.

To that end the most commonly offered services are:

First: Keyword research (86%)
Second: Competitor research (83%)
Joint third: Landing page development (81%)
Joint third: Copywriting (81%)

Hey, there’s something new. The biggest climber since last year is copywriting, which is why we now have the services of three of the UK’s top web copy writing specialists on board.

This increase reflects the growing importance of high quality content in driving good organic visibility on search engines. The technical side of SEO is still important, but it is not as easy now to make radical SEO improvements merely through technical adjustments as more companies are getting to grips with the basics.

As search engines increasingly rank sites based on their content, high-quality and original copy has become even more prominent. The good news is that good copy also works for humans (after all, they are your real prospects). Good copy also eases the way for valuable site links.

Social search activity is also a growing factor. As a result, we help our clients to create a presence on a range of well known social media sites, like Youtube, Facebook and Myspace. Check out www.youtube.com/discoveryfoods

By this time next year, there will doubtless be another site that will emerge as the new Facebook. Expect niche social networks to be much bigger very soon.
If you seriously want to get to the top of Google, then you are in the right place because we are seasoned pros at this kind of stuff.

* By the way, if you live in Russia then its Yandex that scores (which ironically translates to Yet Another Index).

To find out more contact us on 01234 292222.